Area: Brasov, Romania
A classic urban mountain, Tampa provides a lovely backdrop to the beautiful centre of Brasov and made a perfect mini objective this afternoon. The weather did indeed worsen overnight, with a snowy but highly atmospheric train journey over the Predeal Pass into Brasov and Transylvania proper. Brasov is lower, so there was no snow, but after checking into my room, lots of flurries and absolutely bitter windchill characterised the rest of the day. A running approach seemed sensible, so I waited for a heavy snow flurry to clear then set off in sunshine through the lovely centre towards the set of steps that lead to the 'serpentine', a zigzag path giving walkers access to the summit. This was perfect, suiting a fast approach, and I reached the top in 21 minutes (the Strava segment anyway). I then went east towards the giant Romanian flag, which was awkward to reach and obviously not encouraged. It wasn't the summit anyway, so I headed there next via a viewpoint above the Hollywood style Brasov sign that dominates the city. The main summit is just above, and from here there are great views towards the mountains around Poiana Brasov (Varna for example) bringing back memories of that insanely adventurous 1986 skiing trip! Bitterly cold, with more snow flurries, and it took some time for me to find the descent (I wanted to go down a different way to keep it interesting). But when I did it was superb. The beautiful valley framed by Racadau was in front, but I dropped down the Valea Boului through lovely pine woods. A short contouring section, fast running, and then it was back into the Brasov streets where I extended the run as I was in road shoes, down the quiet Strada Fagetului which my guesthouse was on. Refuelled on magnificant Mititei and fried potatoes at the atmospheric La Ceaun as the snow fell outside.
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